Quick ways to Ripen a Mango

Since mango season is ending i’m starting to see how scarce ripe mangos are becoming. Most of the markets are either all out or have a few un ripe mangos left at the end of the day. This led me to looking up some quick ways to ripen mangos and Ive found the information very interesting!

The unnatural way to ripen a Mango

Calcium carbide is used to artificially ripen mangoes by some fruit merchants which can cause health problems.You can ripen mangoes at home if you have unripe mangoes. Calcium carbide is carcinogenic substance, its use is prohibited in ripening of fruits in many countries. Consumption of calcium carbide ripened mangoes and other fruits affect the neurological system, cause headache, dizziness, sleepiness, mental confusion, memory loss, and many other conditions.

When to Pluck the Mango Fruits from the Tree?

If you have a mango tree, then the natural question is when you should cut the fruits from the tree, whether you pluck them when they are still unripe or you should wait for them to ripen on the tree. If you leave the mangoes on tree, they will ripen and produce the sweetest fruits ever. But is it worth? Remember that birds love ripe mangoes as we do, so they will not leave a single fruit. You can save your mango crop from birds if you cover and hide them. If you cover the mangoes by paper bags, then they will ripen faster on tree than uncovered mangoes, but then how will you consume, say 40 ripe mangoes altogether?

Methods To Ripen Mangoes

Whether you have plucked mangoes from your tree or you bought them from market and they are unripe, you will want them to ripen for eating. You may use the following methods for ripening mangoes quickly at home:

Keep unripe mangoes at room temperature on your kitchen table, they will continue to ripen, becoming softer over several days. This is a slow process of ripening, but they will ripen of their own.

Do not put unripe mangoes or any other fruits in a fridge as it will slow down the natural process of fruit ripening.

If you want to ripen your mangoes quickly, then do the following

Another way to ripen a mango is to put them in a ventilated wooden or cardboard box with lots of hay. That is how mango boxes are sold in India.

Another old method is to bury the mangoes in a bin of wheat or uncooked rice. It is a quick, fast and easy way to save a few days off the ripening time. In India and many Asian countries, this is most common method of ripening fruits.

It is a fact that ethylene gas contributes to fruit ripening. Therefore, place unripe mangoes in a paper bag with fruits that emit a high concentration of ethylene gas such as apples, bananas, pears, passion fruit and avocados at a warmer place like kitchen. So putting an apple or banana will increase the amount of ethylene gas in the bag. This is the best way to ripen a mango quickly.